Hailstorm, rain damage crops at villages in Sunam

Sushil Goyal

Sangrur, April 27

Farmers in some villages of Sunam tehsil have suffered losses as their crops and vegetables had been damaged due to hail and heavy rain a week ago. Even the Agriculture Officer, Sunam, has reportedly sent a report related to Bakhshiwala village in this regard to the Chief Agriculture Officer (CAO), Sangrur.

The officer has conveyed the CAO that as per crop-cutting experiments conducted in two fields of two farmers of Bakhshiwala village (Sunam), the damage to the wheat crop has been found between the 33 per cent and 75 per cent slab.

Jagtar Singh Bakhshiwala, general secretary of the BKU (Ugrahan), of Bakhshiwala village said here today that on April 19 there was a heavy rain accompanied with hail in Bakhshiwala village that damaged crops and vegetables of the farmers.

Bakhshiwala further said crops in some other villages, including Ghasiwala, Jakhepal, Dharamgarh, Rattangarh Patiawali of the Sunam block, had also been damaged.

He said most of the affected farmers own less than seven acres in their respective villages. He also said a farmer had told him that he had got only 10 quintals of wheat as yield from an acre as compared to normal yield of 20-22 quintals per acre in the past.

District general secretary of the BKU (U) Darbara Singh Chhajla said as per reports received from the affected villages the farmers wanted financial relief immediately. He said the BKU (U) also demanded special girdawari by the state government in these villages immediately.